TV and Film during COVID-19
Who would have thought that we'd be into the fall, and still struggling through a global pandemic? But here we are, and as we try to gain some sense of normalcy to our lives, most of us have gone back to work. In my case, that meant waiting for the TV and Film industry to start back up here in Vancouver. A little known fact, is that our government and health experts did not actually mandate the closure of film productions, so they technically could have started up whenever they wanted.
However, given the investment that goes into making a TV series or movie, the producers wanted to make sure that they had the right pandemic protocols in place. i.e. if a principal actor were to get sick, they would have to delay production until they are cleared to work again, costing thousands and thousands of dollars. So while they worked out the new normal for filming, we all sat idly by, and watched the slow-motion train wreck happening in the US.
Fast-forward to late-summer, and BC TV & film is back in production; yes, our infection rates are climbing, but still nowhere near the numbers we are seeing South of the border. In fact, the relatively good control over COVID-19 has caused some productions to move from the US to Vancouver, and as of mid-October, there are 61 productions in progress! This actually exceeds pre-pandemic levels, and it has a lot to do with how well people, in general, are responding to the government and healthcare leaders' guidelines for safety.
So when my agent contacted me and asked if I'd like some continuity days on The Good Doctor, I didn't hesitate to say yes. But unlike Canadian productions, these US shows have stepped up their COVID-19 game, and everyone who is on camera, gets tested up to, and sometimes exceeding three times a week! And it's not the pre-frontal lobotomy that you've heard about on the news; no, it's called a "bi-lateral nasal collection". It is, as it sounds, a swab that they take from each nostril, where the nurse gently spins it in the first couple of cms for about 5 seconds each. That's it. A couple days later, you get an email with your negative result, or in the case of a positive one, a call from your friendly CDC representative, telling you that you have contracted coronavirus.
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| Plexiglass partitions in Background Holding |
At the studio, there are tons of new safety measures. Everyone checks in at the "wellness station" where they ask you the typical questions about your contact with out-of-country travellers, general health, and then take your temperature. "Zones" are created, which are not physical spaces per se, but rather the virtual teams of people that are say, in front of the camera when rolling, on set but not while rolling, and those who do not enter the studio area, etc. Zone boundaries are established to try and minimize contact across zones - e.g. A Green zone worker can't even enter the studio. Information is collected if you ride in a shuttle, should contact tracing be required. Sanitizer stations and masks are available everywhere, and plexiglass partitions are place on tables and areas to separate potential airborne transmission. When you do go to set, you still wear your mask up until the point that they are ready to shoot, and put them back on as soon as the director yells, "cut!".
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| Even Buddy got back to work recently! |
A couple of weeks later, I got booked for 5 weeks on a new show called Kung Fu. Not only would I get tested regularly, they were going to pay me to stay home on days that I was not going to be on set! Specifically designated into a small group of around 20 Background performers, we were not to go out and work on other productions, nor would we go to fitness classes etc. Fast forward to today, after six weeks (they asked me to extend for another week), I've been tested 22 times! And while there has been a surge in the "second wave" of the pandemic here, I feel quite safe on set with all the new protocols, and knowing that everyone around me is getting tested regularly. Are there still risks? Sure, but I can't stay at home all day, every day. So that's why our TV & Film sets are the second safest places to be during a global pandemic.
